Skills to succeed?

Skills to succeed?Academic skills support at Loughborough University

Stephanie McKeating

Academic Services Manager

How the Library came to be teaching academic skills

What we offer Challenges Future plans

Outline of the session

Historically study skills support offered by Learning & Teaching Centre Change of focus to supporting academic staff

Library took on study skills in 2005 Advice sheets 1-hour workshops

Roberts funding for FT academic librarian Increased generic support Offered embedded support Online tutorial development

Academic skills and the Library

Originally two separate generic streams Lunchtime in the Library – traditional information skills Study Skills – new skills courses (14 in first year)

Initially all sessions 50 mins held over lunchtime Booking via Careers booking system Target audience - undergraduates

Generic workshops 2005/6 – 2007/8

Time management Reading & note-

taking Oral presentations Essay writing Report writing

Study skills topics Revision & exam skills PDP (introduced in

2007/8) Working in groups

(dropped due to lack of demand)

2008/9 - two streams merged and branded as Get the Know-How: skills to succeed

Complete revision of courses Names e.g. Oral presentations became Speaking

your mind Some courses split into two e.g. reading & note-taking Focus on increasing interactivity

2009/10 & 2010/11 no booking, drop in sessions

Get the Know-How: Skills to succeed

Reintroduced booking via VLE (Moodle)

Trialled new times and venues Nearly 40% courses outside lunchtime period 3 early evening sessions (6 pm) One third courses outside Library

Offered tailored sessions e.g. Presentation skills for Science & Engineering

Get the Know-How 2011/12

E

E

E

E = Evening session

Attendance trends

Sessions Attendance Average2009/10 40 516 12.92010/11 44 566 12.862011/12 36 549 15.25

Average attendance risen 2011/12

Problems with “no-shows” Evening sessions popular

Departmental skills sessions

TopicSessions 2009/10

Sessions 2010/11

Sessions 2011/12

Intro to study skills/ learning 6 5 4Group work 3 4 3Note-taking 0 0 1PDP 1 0 1Poster design 1 1 2Presentation skills 0 2 3Reading 0 0 1Revision & exam skills 1 0 0Time management 2 1 2Writing skills 3 4 6Total 17 17 23

Sessions Attendance2009/10 16 4382010/11 15 5372011/12 20 825

Fewer sessions but bigger reach Many embedded in curriculum Some additional topics

Web pages Topics Advice sheets Planning sheets

VLE Get the Know-How

module Online tutorials

Skills resources

Advice sheets

Written by other services

New titles

Available in print and as PDFs

Considering adding additional citation styles

Planning sheets To support time management sessions Generic planners

Daily Weekly Task sheets

Tailored Module Semester

InfoTrail & StudyTrail

Available on VLE Merged and

redeveloped as Academic Practice

Ten units on academic skills

Online tutorials

Up-skilling the teachers

Proliferation of skills support providers

Lack of student awareness

Academic buy-in

Skills support issues

Academic Librarians no previous experience of teaching study skills

Lack of confidence No suitable external courses Strategies:

Observation and team teaching “Teaching a topic from scratch” session HEA pathway Group brainstorming course content

Up-skilling the teachers

“There are many people who provide support to students, from central student services, academics and library staff to students themselves Institutions should give these people time and resources to develop their skills as a mentor, and should give them the space to discuss the challenges they face….”

NUS Charter on Academic Support (Jan 2012)

http://tinyurl.com/7gmkmzb

10. Support, and recognition, should be available for those who provide support to students

Skills Forum Student Hub

Employability Award Workshop attendance Academic Practice tutorial

English Language Support Service Courses on coherent writing, grammar & punctuation

Collaboration

Not aware of the generic workshops

Confusion about the difference between Get the Know-How and Academic Practice modules on VLE

Don’t perceive skills support as something they need

Difficulty in branding study skills

Lack of student awareness

Perceptions Students already have academic skills Library not seen as the natural providers of academic

skills support No time in existing module programmes for

embedding academic skills sessions

Strategies “Transferable skills in the curriculum” course Liaison and marketing

Academic buy-in

Review of relationship between workshop VLE presence, online tutorial and web pages

Additional generic workshop on systematic review

Review of workshop programme based on feedback

Marketing Information Science students’ presentations What’s in a name?

Future plans

Survey of students who booked on workshops

150 responses - 70% had attended

43% preferred early evening

Survey feedback

“really helpful, you would pay a fortune for them if they were not run through the university”

Stephanie McKeating Academic Services Manager s.f.mckeating@lboro.ac.uk

01509 222342

Contact details